What a great read @luzcypher , Its not secret that I'm a fan of George Carlin and agreed with pretty much everything he ever said. One of my songs even starts with a line you quoted from him (song called puppets) and its basically talking about this very topic.
I find it comical and not in a good way that in order for us to even begin to move towards creating a new world peace, we would need weapons and an army.. its like fornicating to save virginity, but its none the less the truth.
Have you ever heard of Liberland? it was an attempt, I have not kept up with how they are doing... it was somewhere around Croatia.